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It’s been nearly three years since Amazon released a hardware update for the entry-level Amazon Fire tablet. But it looks like a new model could be coming soon.
An unannounced device that sure looks like an Amazon Fire tablet showed up at the FCC website this week. The tablet that’s most overdue for a refresh would certainly be the entry-level Fire 7 tablet, but there’s also a chance that we could be looking at a variation of the current-gen Fire HD 10.
The case for this being a new Fire HD 10 tablet? The FCC documentation doesn’t mention Amazon by name, but everything was submitted by a company called Abyssal Plain, which is the same name as the shell company Amazon used to submit documents for the 2021 Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet. And FCC IDs for the new listing (2AWRO-8768) and last year’s (2AWRO-8762) are very similar.
On the other hand the model numbers are further apart, with the new device labeled as P4N6AC, and the 2021 Fire HD 10 called the T76N2B.
So we could indeed be looking at a refreshed Fire HD 7. The last time Amazon released a new version of that tablet was in 2019, making it the oldest member of Amazon’s tablet lineup. The current-gen Fire HD 8, by comparison, was released in 2020 and the Fire HD 10 was last updated in 2021.
Some key specs for the 2019 model are also starting to look dated, even taking into account the fact that Amazon’s 7 inch tablets tend to be its smallest, cheapest, and least powerful tablets.
For example, all of the company’s other tablets support WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 and have USB Type-C ports, but the 2019 Fire 7 tablet has a micro USB port and tops out at WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.1. So it’s good to see that documents uploaded to the FCC website indicate that the new model will support WiFi 5.
While it would be nice to see Amazon jump on the WiFi 6 bandwagon, it’s probably unrealistic to expect the company to make that move with its cheapest tablet first. Unfortunately the FCC documents don’t say anything about the USB port or other specs.
Currently the Amazon Fire 7 has a smaller, lower-resolution display, a slower processor, and less memory than any other tablet in Amazon’s lineup. But it does also have the lowest starting price, typically selling for $50 and up, and often going for even less than that (all of Amazon’s tablets are discounted this week as part of a Valentine’s Day sale, and the Fire 7 is selling for as little as $35).
Here’s a comparison of key specs for each current-gen Amazon Fire tablet. Hopefully the new model will upgrade at least a few features… assuming the model appearing at the FCC website is indeed a new Fire 7 tablet. There’s always a chance it could be a different model altogether.
| Amazon Fire 7 (2019) | Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020) | Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus (2020) | Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) | Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus (2021) | |
| Display | 7 inch, 1024 x 600 | 8 inch, 1280 x 800 | 8 inch, 1280 x 800 | 10 inch, 1920 x 1200 | 10 inch, 1920 x 1200 |
| Storage | 16GB or 32GB + microSD (up to 512GB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB | 3GB | 3GB | 4GB |
| CPU | MediaTek MT8163V/B 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.3 GHz | MediaTek MT8168 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz | MediaTek MT8168 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz | MediaTek MT8183 4 x ARM Cortex-A73 @ 2 GHz 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz | MediaTek MT8183 4 x ARM Cortex-A73 @ 2 GHz 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-T720 MP2 | Mali-G52 3EE MC1 | Mali-G52 3EE MC1 | Mali-G72 MP3 | Mali-G72 MP3 |
| Battery | Up to 7 hours | Up to 12 hours | Up to 12 hours | Up to 12 hours | Up to 12 hours |
| Ports | micro USB 2.0 | USB 2.0 Type-C | USB 2.0 Type-C | USB 2.0 Type-C | USB 2.0 Type-C |
| Charging time | 4 hours | 5 hours (5W wired) |
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|
|
| Speakers | Mono | Stereo | Stereo | Stereo | |
| WiFi | WiFi 4 | WiFi 5 | WiFi 5 | WiFi 5 | WiFi 5 |
| Bluetooth | 4.1 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Cameras | 2MP front & rear | 2MP front & rear | 2MP front & rear | 5MP rear, 2MP front | 5MP rear, 2MP front |
| Latest OS version | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 7 |
| Dimensions | 192mm x 115mm x 9.6mm | 202mm x 137mm x 9.7mm | 202mm x 137mm x 9.7mm | 247mm x 166mm x 9.2mm | 247mm x 166mm x 9.2mm |
| Weight | 286 grams | 355 grams | 355 grams | 468 grams | 468 grams |
| Starting price (MSRP) | $50 | $90 | $110 | $150 | $180 |
via TabletMonkeys
Unlike Fire HD 10, the 2020 HD 8 line is on sale all the time these days. I bet it’s an HD 8 refresh as Amazon is getting rid of old model’s excess stock.
It will be great to have laminated display and ARM64 app support and even better if coming with FHD resolution.
I really hope it is a fire HD 8 refresh
A laminated display would be really nice
but the only thing I really want to see on these tablets is a 3 pin magnetic connector for folio keyboard covers , the wireless charging on the HD8 is kinda pointless ,it would have been so much nicer if they had opted for a 3 pin connector for a charge dock and folio keyboard covers instead
they would have made more money selling docks and keyboard covers too , they should have really introduced the 3 pin magent connector when they first launched show mode and the show mode dock, instead of the stupid 2 piece dock that bulks up the tablet they could have just used a built in connector on the back or side of he device like apple does
A laminated screen also useful for using an active stylus , but I do not see them adding that anytime soon
Why should we care any more? If we can no longer install the Google Play Store or alter the user interface (so that the changes persist after rebooting), much less root the device and install a recent version of Android, Fire tablets are specialized devices with access to a limited suite of applications primarily suited to those who want to consume Amazon-owned content, not Android tablets with added features. The $15 Amazon wants for removing ads should also give root access and the option of installing a better OS.
You can still install the Google Play Store. Recent Fire OS updates did break the tools some folks had been using to permanently replace the Launcher/home screen, but not that.
I misunderstood; Amazon called me about my one-star review! Could Tasker be used to automatically restore the launcher and home screen upon boot? Amazon should unlock the bootloader (if only for a fee); it’s plain from reading comments on other sites that any number of purchasers are dubious of Fire Toolbox itself and/or feel that installing it is beyond their technical capacity, so it seems as though letting people install Lineage wouldn’t cut into their customer base.
so is it still possible to disable fire launcher and replace it with nova or something else though?
manually through ADB I mean and not using the toolboxes which I personally have never used anyways
what changed exactly maybe it is just the names of the services that need to be hidden or disabled so the toolbox no longer works
until it gets updated to include the new service names?
The toolbox is basically a collection of adb scripts, and to the best of my knowledge, none of there are no known ones that can completely disable the Amazon Launcher in the latest builds of Fire OS, but you can hijack the home button so that pressing it will take you to an alternate launcher.
Hmmm…noticed they’re all Mediatek SoCs now…wonder if we might get a new armv9 SoC from Mediatek in Amazon’s Fire line-up? I’d be ecstatic to find an armv9 SoC like Dimensity 9000 but without wasting die space on 5G modem/radio, just WiFi, slap it in old Gen 3 Fire HDX 8.9 body with WUXGA display. Oh well, doubt it’ll ever happen. Amazon’s always staying generations behind on SoCs to cut costs. It’s a shame, really, they could be stealing the tablet show, instead they’re satisfied with mediocre products (as long as they have an open mike built-in to let Alexa listen in on everything).
I have the latest Fire 7 and I’m guessing that this new Fire tablet is the Fire 7. Even having debloated this Fire 7 it is significantly more sluggish than the previous generation Fire 7 that wasn’t debloated. It borders on unusable.
The more that I look at this particular FCC listing, the more I suspect this is a slight tweak to the current Fire HD 10. But I’d be surprised if we don’t see a Fire 7 refresh sometime this year.
Elias at AFTVNews said the same thing.
I’d personally suspect that the global supply chain issues caused a change in either the wifi or the bluetooth component – not enough of a change for a new product model (hence the reused shell company), but enough that it had to be re-cleared through the FCC.